Siddiqui: The people behind the prayer protest

Group is known to be anti-Sikh and anti-Muslim.

The group demanding an end to Muslim Friday prayers at a Toronto school is militantly anti-Sikh and anti-Muslim.

Canadian Hindu Advocacy’s director Ron Banerjee has said: “In its entire history, Islam, the Islamic civilization has invented and contributed less to human advancement than a pack of donkeys.”

He wants to “fight the Islamization of our society” and, lately, of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). He’s demanding that Valley Park Middle School in Flemingdon Park stop giving space to Muslim students in the cafeteria after lunch on Fridays.

He does not live in the area but claims to have “received many complaints from terrified Hindu students and parents (who) felt that the TDSB was so thoroughly infected with Islamist sympathies that they would suffer consequences for speaking up.”

He does not say how many parents complained. Nor does he identify them. When I asked him that by email, and also inquired how many members his organization has and who funds it, he did not respond.

“Frankly, I don’t believe what he says,” principal Nick Stefanoff says. “I’ve not had a single complaint from any non-Muslim parents. We have dozens of Hindu students and we have a great relationship with them and their parents. When the Indian cricket team played Sri Lanka in the World Cup final (in April in Mumbai), Hindu and Muslim kids came to the school at 4 a.m. to watch it together. They had a great time.”

He says that several of Banerjee’s assertions are wrong — that other kids are denied access to the cafeteria (the prayer is held after lunch when the place is vacant); that prayer is interfering with classes (all classes start on time); and that “secular education” is compromised (class content is decidedly not affected).

“I think he just makes it all up,” says Stefanoff. “He never asked me a thing. Why doesn’t he come and talk to me?”

Banerjee has speculated that the praying students may be subject to “inflammatory preaching” against Hindus. There’s no such evidence. And he himself has been quoted as conceding that “there’s no evidence that this has occurred.”

Yet he plans to picket the school just when the Muslims begin praying in the new school year. “Let’s see how much praying they can do with our loudspeakers. . . . If our loudness disrupts their prayers, so be it.”

Banerjee’s views echo those of extremist Hindus in India, a minority there. For example, he thinks India’s ruling secular Congress Party, “which depends heavily on Muslim votes,” is “a curse” on that country. Congress led India’s struggle against British colonial rule and has been elected more times than any other party since 1947.

In January, when the JDL made common cause with a racist British group, the English Defence League, Banerjee was at their Toronto rally, which was opposed by the Canadian Jewish Congress. Bernie Farber, then CEO, said: “When extremists come together, we all too often get a combustible reaction. . . . Using the tactics of hooligans, whether from the right or the left, is appalling.”

Banerjee is also in bed with a handful of Canadians who are fans of Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders. When they held a rally for him in Toronto last year, Banerjee spoke in glowing terms about Wilders.

Regarding Sikhs, Banerjee applauded the separatist Parti Québécois for championing the banning of kirpans from the Quebec National Assembly. He said kirpans “can be used as deadly weapons and there have been documented cases of Canadian Sikhs injuring others using kirpans.” He, of course, did not mention that there are infinitely more documented cases of people injuring others with knives, sticks and guns.

Banerjee describes his group as the voice of “real Hindus.” Other times he claims it to be “the leading” voice for Canadian Hindus. This annoys the large and well-respected Canadian Hindu organizations, whom he keeps attacking:

“Canadian Hindu temples and groups have proven themselves unable or unwilling to protect Hindu lives, rights or property. The Canadian Hindu Advocacy was formed to address this, and our national advocacy shall continue to provide real leadership to our oppressed community, which is by far the most victimized in Canada.”

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